State report update says 'streeting' could end

Hampton Roads may be poised to stop putting endangered, mentally ill people on the street by adding as few as two or three beds to Eastern State Hospital, according to a new report.

The Office of the Inspector General for Behavioral Health and Developmental Services estimated Tuesday that by providing the additional emergency "safety-net" beds at Eastern State Hospital, so-called "streeting" of patients could end in the region.

The Inspector General's office said in a semi-annual report late last month that there were more than 65 instances in Hampton Roads where people had been turned away from treatment facilities between April 2010 and March 2011. The individuals had been turned away despite posing a serious threat to themselves or others, the report stated. Hampton Roads had the highest single tally of streeting incidents in the state during the past year.

During the past week, regional Community Services Board executive directors worked with Eastern State Hospital to develop a new protocol for access to the additional beds.

That protocol includes having emergency services workers exhaust alternative options for treatment before placing people in need of immediate emergency treatment at the state facility. Among the options to be considered is looking for hospitals outside of the region to place the patient. As a last line of defense, the beds at the state-run hospital in James City County will be made available.

Chuck Hall, executive director of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, said that while the additional beds will help, they will not completely solve the problem. Hall said that many times law enforcement and the judicial system, "come into conflict with a person in psychiatric distress." He also said that emergency rooms at hospitals were not well-equipped to handle a mental-health crisis.

A spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services said that state officials recognize more needs to be done.

"What is clear is there is a lack of sufficient access to services, especially to community services designed to help prevent a mental-health problem from becoming a crisis," said Meghan McGuire, a spokeswoman for the department. "The system is large and complex and the issues discussed in the report are only a small part."